Wow not only am I an out of touch technophobe for having cable, I can't even have NetFlix now?

I am a network engineer with a large telco, and I am 45 years old, I do not paying 12 bucks a month for their original programming.

I know how to internet and I am just not a dick about it.

I know how to internet. I also know that 10$ a month is worth having all of TNG or frasier or whatever to play while I fall asleep. I'm paying for 'auto play next episode' and 'I don't have to fark with re-encoding shiat for my phone on the off chance I have to wait somewhere for 45 min with nothing to do'

Wow not only am I an out of touch technophobe for having cable, I can't even have NetFlix now?

I am a network engineer with a large telco, and I am 45 years old, I do not paying 12 bucks a month for their original programming.

I know how to internet and I am just not a dick about it.

I know how to internet. I also know that 10$ a month is worth having all of TNG or frasier or whatever to play while I fall asleep. I'm paying for 'auto play next episode' and 'I don't have to fark with re-encoding shiat for my phone on the off chance I have to wait somewhere for 45 min with nothing to do'

Plex takes care of that problem. That being said, I also have Netflix and Amazon Prime, but they both make you wade through shiat to get to the good stuff. If you know exactly what you want to watch, and it's available, great. But browsing is just torture.

Darth_Lukecash:bborchar: We have Amazon Prime. No desire to go back to Netflix.

They have good Netflix only content. Like House of Cards and Arrested Development, Clone Wars and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Amazon does too. Both together would still be far cheaper than a cable bill.

Amazon is worth it just for the Prime shipping. The TV shows are just a cherry on top. I just recently discovered you can buy rebuilt automotive engines from Amazon that ship free with Prime (not two day, but I guess they have to draw the line SOMEWHERE).

If I didn't want the hassle of losing the email address I've had for nearly 10 years, I would seriously consider changing to Slingshot and getting Netflix.

I have very much enjoyed the hissy fit SkyTV has been throwing. They really thought they had locked down all the good content so that no streaming company could succeed in NZ, and that partnering with Vodafone made them untouchable.

$7.99 for unlimited streamingOptional: $7.99 for 1 dvd out at a time (more for more DVDs or Blu-Rays)

// 1 month of my old cable bill pays for 6 months of netflix ... but provided me with 1/10th of the watchable content.

I guess the thing is it always gets worse for broadcast vs streaming - every year there is more or less the same number of options (channels) for broadcasters at any time (obviously that expands somewhat with PVRs and the like, especially the ones that are good at predicting what you might like), whereas streaming potentially adds one more year of programming from all those channels/series/movies they can get the rights to (at a reasonable price).

Mr Tarantula:Plex takes care of that problem. That being said, I also have Netflix and Amazon Prime, but they both make you wade through shiat to get to the good stuff. If you know exactly what you want to watch, and it's available, great. But browsing is just torture.

/first world problems

So just like how it was watching TV or going to the video store? Go figure, trying to figure out what you want to watch is a little work.

There are those who will pirate regardless of how cheap content becomes. In my house, it's Hulu/Netflix. I'm probably going to pull the trigger on Amazon Prime soon too, not so much because I'm running out of content to watch on Netflix, but that free shipping, so the extra show options become a plus.

Funny enough, we don't do Hulu Plus, because, hey, I'm not gonna pay you $10 a month, and still have to put up with commercials. What do I look like, a satellite/cable subscriber?

asquian:There are those who will pirate regardless of how cheap content becomes. In my house, it's Hulu/Netflix. I'm probably going to pull the trigger on Amazon Prime soon too, not so much because I'm running out of content to watch on Netflix, but that free shipping, so the extra show options become a plus.

Funny enough, we don't do Hulu Plus, because, hey, I'm not gonna pay you $10 a month, and still have to put up with commercials. What do I look like, a satellite/cable subscriber?

For the first time in a while I watched a show that was only on Hulu, not Hulu Plus, and I was startled by the amount of ad time. Hulu Plus ads are like 45-60 seconds. That's fine by me. But the Hulu broadcast seemed to have a full ad load of 3-4 minutes. It was interminable.

xria:especially the ones that are good at predicting what you might like

I have a TiVo (Series 3, but have been a TiVo owner since back with the Series 2s).

It was the TiVo that kept me with cable for so long ... my season pass list was originally about 70 shows long. Fluff shows near the bottom of the list would never get watched, or would only get watched when other shows were on hiatus or what not (Generally, I only skimmed the cream of the crop from the top).

That eventually dropped to about 20 shows, and I was routinely emptying the tivo out.

The real catalyst for my change though was that I got a new smart TV with the netflix app built in.

I had played around with netflix streaming on other devices before, but it didn't stick with me (I always had a DVD plan with no streaming plan). The XBOX 360 and PS3 meant turning them on, switching to their input and navigating to netflix.

The TiVo hardware design predated netflix somewhat, so it didn't have the horsepower and it wasn't integrated into the interface well.

The phones and tablets all had smaller screens, not exactly what I wanted to watch at home when I had a 51" screen sitting in the living room.

Ditto for the desktop PC and it's less-than-sofa-comfortable computer chair.

With the smart TV though, streaming works well (there is a dedicated "netflix" button on the remote ... and the TV is already on ... AND, I can fling shows from the tablet to the TV (so I don't have to poke letters into a search box using a remote control)).

If I didn't want the hassle of losing the email address I've had for nearly 10 years, I would seriously consider changing to Slingshot and getting Netflix.

I have very much enjoyed the hissy fit SkyTV has been throwing. They really thought they had locked down all the good content so that no streaming company could succeed in NZ, and that partnering with Vodafone made them untouchable.

/Screw you, SkyTV

I changed to Slingshot and pay telecom $5 a month to keep my xtra email address

I'd be very interested to know what kind of profit margin they're slinging these days, what with content owners and ISPs lining up to bleed them dry. At $8 per subscriber and 36 million accounts, every 1% of that revenue stream that is profit... is 3/4 of a million dollars a WEEK.

I'm just fantasizing about what could be done with that kind of money, not getting judgmental about corporate profits; I think the $8 price point is just about right.